Objective: Developing countries, including Tanzania, are increasingly characterised by undernutrition. It is very disheartening, affecting a large proportion of the country’s population. Women in the reproductive age group are affected the most. Undernourished women are likely to face reproductive health problems, leading to maternal and infant death. Thus, studying and eliminating undernutrition risk factors in women is very important in order to avoid maternal health complications and prevent infant illness and death. Therefore, this study focused on identifying the determinant factors of undernutrition in women of reproductive age, i.e. aged 15-49 years, on the Tanzania mainland, using the data extracted from the Tanzanian Demographic and Health Survey 2010. Subjects and setting: Six thousand, nine hundred and thirty-three eligible non-pregnant women of reproductive age were selected from urban and rural areas on the Tanzania mainland. Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted. Outcome measures: An anthropometric measure (body mass index) was used to determine the prevalence of undernutrition and the generalised estimating equation (GEE) was adopted to assess the impact of the proposed determinants of undernutrition. Results: It was shown from the findings of this study that overall prevalence of undernutrition was 11%. Also, the results from the fitted GEE revealed that the effect of age, the family’s wealth index and marital status were independent significant risk factors for undernutrition. The impact of education on undernutrition was significantly associated with place of residence. Conclusion: There was a high prevalence of undernutrition in this study, with significant differences with respect to age, wealth index and marital status. In order to improve women’s nutritional status, policies should focus on improving family wealth and education.

Introduction: Telehealth has become an increasingly popular method to deliver mental health services to rural and remote youth who are challenged by distance and service availability. However, it remains unclear whether rural and remote youth would prefer to access mental health services via telehealth or by attending services in person.Objective: To systematically review the preferences of rural and remote youth for mental health service access via telehealth versus face‐to‐face consultation.Design: Systematic review of published research papers cited in databases CINAHL, MEDLINE and PubMed databases between 2000 and 2021.Findings: From a total of 225 articles identified, four were found to meet inclusion criteria. Three studies reported rural and remote youth preferred to access mental health services face‐to‐face over telehealth. However, three studies also reported youth viewed telehealth as an important adjunct to in person attendance, especially in situations of large travel times.Discussion: Although telehealth can facilitate mental health service access, rural and remote youth may prefer to see a mental health professional in person, with telehealth regarded as an adjunct to, not a replacement for, face‐to‐face consultation.Conclusion: Whilst rural and remote youth may prefer to access mental health services in person rather than via telehealth, further well designed research is needed to better understand under what circumstances this preference holds true and why. Caution should be exercised in generalising this finding because of the few studies that met the inclusion criteria and different conditions under which youth made their choice to access mental health services.

BACKGROUND: Diarrhea remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among under 5 children in low- and middle-income countries. In Tanzania, diarrhea remains one of the major public health problems. This study aimed to investigate spatial variations and the factors correlated with diarrhea in under five children. METHODS: This is a secondary data analysis using data from the population-based cross section Tanzanian Demographic and Health Survey 2015-16 data. Spatial analysis was done using the Bernoulli model from SaTScan™ software, and a generalized linear mixed model was used to identify the factors associated with childhood diarrhea. RESULTS: The overall reported prevalence of childhood diarrhea for the under five children in Tanzania was 12.1% (95%CI 11.3%-12.9%). The SaTScan spatial statics analysis revealed that diarrhea in children was not random. The odds of diarrhea were 7.35 times higher (AOR= 7.35; 95%CI: 5.29, 10.22) among children in the 6- 11 months age group compared to children within the 48-59 months of age. As mother’s age increased, the risk of diarrhea for the under five children decreased whereas the highest risk of diarrhea was observed in the two rich income brackets richer (AOR=1.70, 95%CI=1.30, 2.22), and richest (AOR= 1.05, 95%CI=1, 1.09). The odds of diarrhea were 1.25 times higher (AOR=1.25, 95%CI=1.06, 1.46) among children with unsafe stool disposal compared to those with safe disposal. CONCLUSION: The socio-demographic factors associated with diarrhea among children were mother’s age in years, current age of the child, wealth index and child stool disposal.

Iodine deficiency is a widespread global health problem that affects about 2 billion people each year. Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to iodine deficiency due to increased iodine requirement leading to death, miscarriage, and stillbirth. Iodine deficiency also has significant negative effects on newborns including impaired cognitive development, impaired learning capabilities, and stunting. This study looks at the association between subclinical iodine deficiency and demographic factors including age, wealth index, education, family size, geographical zone, number of children, fish consumption, pregnancy trimester and household salt in pregnant women aged 15–49 years in Tanzania. The 2010 Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey (TDHS) data was re analysed. Subclinical iodine deficiency is classified as a urinary iodine concentration (UIC) of <150 μg/L. Results showed that the prevalence of iodine deficiency (54%) was unacceptably high among pregnant women. The results of multiple logistic regression model found that number of children, wealth index, household salt, and geographical zone were significantly associated with iodine deficiency in these women. These results indicate a need to implement interventions to increase iodine intake that targets pregnant women with the specific demographic characteristics.

The occurrence of overweight and obesity has serious health implications. The 2010 Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey data set was reanalysed to compare the prevalences of overweight and obesity between Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar and to determine how demographic factors can predict overweight and obesity across the United Republic of Tanzania. About 7.92% of the Tanzanian women of reproductive age were obese, 15% were overweight, and 11.5% were underweight. Women from Mainland Tanzania (6.56%) were significantly less likely (AOR = 0.66, 95% CI: 0.53–0.82) to be affected by obesity as compared to women from Zanzibar (12.19%). The common predictors of obesity in Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar were wealth index, marital status, and age. Whereas the place of residence and education level emerged as predictors of obesity in the Mainland Tanzania alone, the number of meals per day did so in Zanzibar. Most importantly, Zanzibar had a greater prevalence of obesity compared to Mainland Tanzania.

Malaria is one among four main infectious diseases leading in death for the under-five children in Africa. This study aim to determine prevalence of malaria and social demographic factors related with children under-five in Tanzania. The study used cross section data extracted from Tanzania demographic health survey collected from 2015 to 2016. A sample of 9,322 under five children with malaria rapid diagnostic test results was obtained from 10,899 households. Complimentary log-log model was used to determine factors associated with malaria among children under five years. The study reveals that malaria prevalence increases with increase in age, varies with place and zone of residence, being highest to the rural areas compared to urban. Complementary log-log model estimates has also indicated that Western zone was having a highest mean occurrence of children with malaria compared to all other zones whereas Zanzibar (Adjusted Parameter estimates = -4.521, CI: -5.92,-3.13) was having a lowest mean occurrence compared to Western zone and all other zones. The risk of malaria among under-five children was positively related with family wealth index. The results show that malaria decreases with an increase in wealth. Other explanatory variables which include; child sex, mother's age, marital status and education level, as well as mosquito net ownership were not statistically significant associated with malaria at 5% level. Therefore children's age, place of residence, zone of residence and wealth index are significant predictors of malaria in Tanzania. Particular emphasis on education and interventions across the groups need to be prioritized for continued improvements in targeting high prevalent areas to reduce malaria risks, especially to the children under-five years. Key words: Malaria, children under five years, complementary log-log model.